Jeremy Doku is trying to close down a very public row without adding fuel to it. The Belgium winger says he is not angry at the journalist who criticised his decision to leave the World Cup camp for the birth of his son, Praise. He also says he understands why some people thought the timing looked convenient.
Doku's response to the criticism
"I'm not against her. I'm not angry at her or anything. She just said her opinion," Doku said in an interview with the BBC. That is the clearest line in the story. He is not pretending the criticism never landed, but he is refusing to turn it into something personal.
He added: "I can understand why people felt like maybe this was orchestrated because it was too perfect." That is as far as he went. Doku did not challenge the idea that the optics looked bad; he simply pushed back against the idea that the journalist had crossed a line.
There was, as he put it, "a lot of noise of course." France Pierron criticised the plan, later apologised, and L'Equipe also apologised. Pierron was taken off air until the end of the current season of her show.
Belgium's tournament context
The decision meant Doku missed Belgium's 0-0 draw against Iran in the World Cup group stage to fly back to the UK for the birth of his son. He had already played 86 minutes in Belgium's opening 1-1 draw with Egypt, a long first outing before the absence.
Manchester City will not be directly involved in the fallout, but the episode says something about how public these moments become when club and country form a backdrop. Doku has not tried to relitigate any of it. He has said the criticism was understandable, and he has not answered it with anger.
The row is now defined by that response more than by the original complaint. Belgium move on with the family detail intact, and Doku's next appearance for them will draw far less attention than the trip that took him away from camp.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
